Three Madhya Pradesh Police personnel among five arrested in Noida over robbery of service pistol

Noida:

Noida:

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Noida Police arrested three policemen from Madhya Pradesh claiming that they had extorted people under investigation. The alleged extortion was discovered when one of the suspect policemen lost his licensed firearm and the Noida Police were called to investigate.

The policemen -- two sub-inspectors Rashid Parvez Khan and Pankaj Sahu and a constable -- were part of the MP cybercell department. The name of a fourth member of the team was not disclosed as police did not consider him a suspect.

On December 18, Khan had his gun snatched when five unidentified men scuffled with the team in Noida sector 18.

When Noida Police investigated the case, they discovered that the cyber police team were in Noida on a case and were extorting the suspects in that case.

“An eyewitness had video recorded the final moments of the robbery and shared it with us. We were able to note the licence plate of the getaway vehicle and traced it to a Delhi-based woman. Her husband was a friend of the man the MP police was investigating,” said additional deputy commissioner of police, zone 1, Kumar Ranvijay Singh.

The MP Police team arrived in Noida on December 15 to investigate a ponzi scheme case. They suspects in the case were brothers Suryabhan and Shashikant Yadav, who were residents of Sector 12 and worked from Sector 62, police said.

“The case was filed by a man named Chandraketu Dubey in Jabalpur. He claimed to have had lost around ₹2.5 lakh to the duo. During the probe, MP Police had frozen a bank account associated with the brothers with ₹58 lakh in it,” said Gautam Budh Nagar joint commissioner of police, law and order, Luv Kumar.

On December 16, the MP Police team allegedly visited Suryabhan at his office and took him for questioning in an SUV and roamed around in Delhi. In a public park in Mahipalpur, the three policemen allegedly started extorting him.

“Suryabhan transferred ₹1.7 lakh into a Jabalpur account after threats from the police. Over the next two days, he borrowed ₹3 lakh in cash and handed it over to the three. They also had him transfer bitcoins worth ₹24 lakh in Chandraketu’s account which were then transferred to constable Khan’s account,” said the DCP.

Police said that on December 18, the team allegedly came to a bank to released Shashikant’s account apparently to withdra more money.

“Suryabhan had shared his ordeal with the Delhi-based friend who then decided to take matters into his own hands. Along with four accomplices, they reached sector 18 in his wife’s car and confronted the officers. During the scuffle, the fled with S-I Khan’s gun,” said the joint CP. This forced S-I Khan to approach the Noida Police.

Noida Police said there had been inconsistencies in the statements of the visiting policemen and the video helped them put the pieces together.

The three policemen, and brothers Shashikant and Suryabhan were arrested on December 19 from near the sector 18 metro station, said police. They were booked under sections 395 (punishment for dacoity), 384 (punishment for extortion), 120b (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

Police said that the persons who robbed the pistol were yet to be apprehended. They said they had informed the MP Police of the matter.